PrayingWithMyFingers

Dear God,

Day 2 of the Lenten season.  My daily readings include, Lent & Easter – Wisdom from Thomas Merton, Bread & Wine – Readings for Lent and Easter (multiple authors), and “The Lenten Pharmacy – Daily Healing Therapies,” by Edward Hays.  I try to discern a nugget from each reading and hope I’ll remember to apply something from the readings to my day.

Merton’s writing from Seasons of Celebration speaks to, “the acceptance of one’s actual condition.”  This is something that strikes a deep chord within me and a nugget that will require me to spend more time and thought.  It is both a scary and a hopeful thought.  Scary because I resist accepting “my actual condition,” because it is a condition of brokenness and powerlessness.  At the same time, there is great hope in accepting that there is One who has all Power – that one is You, God.

In Bread and Wine, William Willimon discusses the baptism of Jesus and the fact that although he was the Son of God and our Saviour, he subjected himself to baptism – to washing.  With Jesus as our example, “Everybody must submit to be made over.  Everybody must descend into the waters, especially the religiously secure and the morally sophisticated.”

“The real sign of Lent is not ashes but the cross,” according to Edward Hays in The Lenten Pharmacy.  He writes about the Tau cross, a letter shaped like our English T.  The prophet Ezekiel spoke of the Tau as a sign of protection in difficult times — A good sign to use for strength during the 40 days of Lent and an assist in remaining faithful.

Day 2.  38 remaining.  But, not really.  My whole life remains for me to stay faithful in following Jesus and carrying my own personal cross.  And yet, I am called to carry that cross and still be a Light in the World.  Lent is not a diet that I go on and then go off – It is a return to the path and a period of strengthening my practice of devotion to You, God.